The education of Lieutenant Kerrey
By: Gregory L. Vistica.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
Subjects: Kerrey, Robert, 1943-; Kerrey, Robert, 1943- -- Childhood and youth.; United States. Congress. Senate -- Biography.; United States. Navy. SEALs -- Biography.; Legislators -- United States -- Biography.; Soldiers -- United States -- Biography.; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Commando operations.
Genres: Biography.
Description: "On the night of February 23, 1969, Bob Kerrey, an inexperienced twenty-five-year-old lieutenant, led a commando raid on the isolated hamlet of Thanh Phong in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. While witnesses and official records give varying accounts, one thing is certain: Around midnight, Kerrey and his men killed nearly two dozen unarmed women and children.".

"What happened that night and why? It's a terrible secret that Kerrey has borne for more than thirty years. Kerrey went on to do heroic things in Vietnam and later as a politician. Since World War II, he is the only Medal of Honor recipient to sit as a member of Congress. In many ways, Kerrey's life following that tragic mission has been a struggle for redemption.".

"So is Bob Kerrey a war hero or a war criminal? Gregory L. Vistica, who uncovered the Thanh Phong atrocities in a widely praised cover story for The New York Times Magazine, searches the entire span of Kerrey's life to answer that question. From his rural boyhood in Nebraska to his gut-wrenching Navy SEAL training to his aborted run for president, Kerrey's life will become a vehicle for understanding the Vietnam generation shaped in the fifties and sharpened by the tumultuous sixties.".

"The Education of Lieutenant Kerrey is an incredible story and a modern morality tale about a man of compassion and promise trapped by a horrible secret."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes index.